Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

thediggens Prematurely billed as Jet Li's final martial arts epic, Fearless follows the -mostly- true story of Huo Yuanjia who rose to fame defeating foreign fighters in a time where China was facing encroachment from a militant Japan and Western colonials; he also founded one of the largest Wushu organisations in the world.The story traces his early life as an arrogant, ambitious upstart fighter to an upstanding humble defender of China and the moral values inherent in Wushu. The story told is an inspiring one, of co-operation over confrontation, which unfortunately is yet to become the wide consensus. Though engaging, the beats of the story could be drawn from the book of clichés. Both the imagery and the dialogue lack any form of subtlety, particularly in the first half of the film as Jet Li's character 'matures'.The film relies on Jet Li to carry the movie, both as the only truly developed character in the film and forced to portray a spectrum of emotions. Amid tragedies that his character faces, arrogance turns to humility in what is a relatively short space of time, yet Jet Li makes it believable and real. He is of course helped along from the already mentioned weathered old storyline. The quiet exile where one 'finds themselves' is particularly trite.This is still-somewhat- a martial arts piece, and some could argue that in such a film the story is irrelevant. Though with such a strong message that would be an unfortunate conclusion here. Nevertheless, Yuen Woo-Ping is on top form for the fight scenes here, bettering most of his 'Western' work at the least. The fighting switches from flamboyance to raw brutality, and sports a fantastic variety in one-on-ones. The fights between Yuanjia and Master Chin, and against Tanaka, are particular standouts.There have been some suggestions of 'Chinese propaganda' and a one dimensional role for the 'Westerners'. Of the former charge, I'd say its patriotic and disdainful of colonialism, but neither of these are crimes. Of the latter, I was quite enjoying the portrayal, solely as the evil moustache twirlers. This spoke more to me as a hypocritical attitude from some of the 'West', and the charges are certainly exaggerated.As a note, and it may be especially relevant to the last point on one-dimensional 'villains', but this is based solely on viewings of the theatrical edition, and not the directors cut, which adds a significant 40 minutes to the length. While it's been said to be unwieldy long, the film could have done with a bit more character development, as the film is a relatively tight 1 hour 40 minutes, and Jet Li's character arc is of significant length.Certainly, the film looks great, particularly with the action scenes, and the themes are solid. The film is just disappointing for lacking any originality with its themes, and worse, originality in portraying them. It doesn't stray away from the playbook, and repeat viewings serve to make this more obvious. It takes a safe route, but by no means a bad one.

william rek This movie is a great sense of how to learn about yourself in a pursue of happiness. It is uncommon for people in this day and age, for one, to find true happiness in what they do. Most die and never see real importance of life and their own propose. This movie is one of my favorites because, Huo dreams so big into being the best Wushu master and claiming his house name among china, that he not only forgets what is most important to him, but he sacrifices the lives around him for his own endeavor. After realizing what he has done, he leaves uncertain of his own motivation in his life. Then he is picked up, aged, and in a isolated place where he learns the meaning of life and how to grow. He learns here that not only is his dreams still worth chasing but the reasons why he does it is not for his own greed, but rather for the teaching of others. He realize through honorable competition he can find himself, learn who he is and in his place of happiness die with peace. For he has left others to do good. Unfortunately, my review probably still does not do justice for this film but I would recommend this movie to everyone in hopes that they see, what my words lack.

lourensini So far I've never heard about wusu before. Martial arts movie just isn't my thing because they're all the same. What makes Fearless different and more interesting is because it's based in veridical facts.Fearless has its issues if we talk about what could be improved, but the important here is The Lesson. Jet Li's character Huo was a reckless child who grow up to be the greatest arrogant and superb wusu master of all time. And that's what drove him into ruins.Ascention, fall, and then redemption. Fearless teach us that the only way to fate your mistakes is by fighting yourself and finding the true meaning of this fight.The acting isn't bad, but nothing amazing, not even from Jet Li. The movie photography is clear and there's an amazing scene where the scenario passes through the four seasons that made me exclaim "what a nice picture editing!". I don't think I'll remember Fearles for it's plot, but it's well written and will keep you interested throughout the whole movie.Apart from that, fearless could be really better, just by excluding those takes where history is cutted off to explain us, what happened certain point of history. It seemed like directors was trying to save some time (and time is money). That could really be better and won't be that hard to do so.When watching Fearless, try to pay attention in the humility lessons, not only the history per se. You're gonna like it.

webmaster-3017 Jet Li is Fok Yuen Gap! Of all the actors that Neo admired, there is one that he admired the most and can almost boast to be the only actor that Neo have watched every single one of his movies and this great talent is Jet Li. Perhaps, it is his heroic roles that made me a fan, but really it is his fighting abilities and unique on screen presence that made him such a respectable character. Recalling the days when I watched my first ever Jet Li's movie - Fist of Legend, it reminded me of Chinese pride and more importantly it sparked myself into HK cinema fascination. It was Li, not Jackie Chan that got me into HK cinema and now with the rumor-like announce of partial retirement by Mr. Jet Li, it is fittingly that a long time fan paid tribute to what has been a brilliant career by any standards. In his latest blockbuster - Fearless, Li has matured and his philosophy into life is all the more evident and after years of talking about - "violence without violence" on his own official website, his insight in the world of wushu have finally emerged to audience around the globe. This is a period flick and a fittingly finale as Li's final wushu movie, as the plot isn't deliver by fighting physically, but rather - the true meaning of martial arts - fighting a battle in our hearts. This is no ordinary action blockbuster, but one that reinforce my race, nationality and finally - pride of being a Chinese.While one may call Li's best is behind him - OUATIC series, Fong Sai Yuk, Fist of Legend, Swordsman 2 and more recently Hero, it may well be physically, but his acting has improved and matured. In what I will label as Li's most difficult role - as he played 2 very different characters - Fong Sai Yuk's carefree style in the beginning to respected hero in the form of Wong Fei Hung at the end. His range was naturally forced and his critically acclaimed stoic face provides a much hidden message behind a great man - Fok Yuen Gaap. In an age where all action movies are seamlessly cliché with a main bad villain that the hero is trying to beat, Fearless heads up the standard to be above the rest, by not having any true villain, but rather expressing a deep and profound message - the biggest enemy is indeed ourselves. Winning isn't everything, and being able to beat someone physically does not make you superior, but rather winning in your heart is far more important.Surely a Jet Li's movie can not be without brilliant fight scenes and once again Li and Yuen Woo Ping is a perfect combination. Woo Ping is perhaps the best fight director and somehow his best is always within a Jet Li's movie. Li is flawless and perhaps is still very much in his prime and his personal charisma can not be doubted. His steer presence alone is amazing and if they is one actor who don the half bald head more naturally, it must be Jet Li. Maybe, he was born for that period or maybe he is at his best with that hairstyle.Actress Sun Li performs with just enough grace and cuteness for us to care about her character, while it may seem forced to have such a cliché redeeming character, in Fearless it just sort of clicks. The both Li shared a reasonable chemistry and if only more time is spent in this part, the movie emotional core might even go further. However, what made this movie works is definitely a return to form by Hollywood-converted - Ronny Yu. Just like most biography flicks, the audience probably already know the fate of the hero - so how can you make someone feel the emotions when they already know the result. That is exactly the genius of Yu, and on the way he created a new type of action movie - its not about fighting and kicking ass, but about the heart and spirit of the game, nation and pride. In dealing with patriotic senses - proud of being Chinese, Yu has pressed all the right buttons for an utterly terrific yet emotionally manipulative finale. Yu really knows how to finish off, as if it was delivered by a lesser director the movie may have a very different value and perception.Certainly the fights are amazing to endure - Big Guy vs Jet Li and the finale honorable Japanese vs Jet Li fight, but the most amazing of all is not the hardcore fighting, but the moral message about the true art of wushu that it is delivering. Fighting and hurting others physically will not solve any problems, but rather creates further problems that one can not imagine - anger leads to revenge and finally to murder and deaths. In a way it is true that people learn from their mistakes, but perhaps Jet Li learned a lesson that was much too harsh - sure he was rash, ambitious and unforgiving, but he certainly did not deserve his fate. However, it is human nature to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again, until it finally hits you in the heart that you began to change. Life isn't about winning this and winning that, but it is about the human spirit, proud of who you are, being confidence yet without overdoing it, and quite frankly and directly the biggest enemy is indeed yourself. Li taught us a worthy lesson and in the process also entertained us with an epic. Sure the title is Fok Yuen Gap, but to me, this movie isn't so much about Fok, but rather Li as a character, his life and his true spirit of wushu... In other words, Neo loved it! (Neo 2006)I rate it 10/10www.thehkneo.com